California Cop Released From Jail Early Because He "Was Depressed And Wanted To Go Home"

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Officer Bobby Carrillo of the King City Police Department in Northern California has been released from jail after serving less than three months of a one year jail sentence. Monterey County Judge Julie Culver approved his request to serve the remainder of that sentence on house arrest.

In March, Carrillo pled no contest to charges in which he was accused of being the “mastermind” of a scheme involving six cops total, including two chiefs, in which they had low-income and minority residents’ cars illegally towed after stopping them without probable cause in a scheme to profit personally.

By preying on poor people, mostly of Latino background, Carrillo targeted those he knew would be unable to pay the impound fees to get their cars back. Part of the scheme was that for every ten cars his mafia crew stole Carrillo would get to keep one himself.

What was the reason for his early release from the Monterey County Jail you might ask. It was because he was depressed and wanted to go home. Plus, he had lost weight and the other inmates didn’t like him because he is a former cop.

Via KSBW “Action 8 News,” the local NBC affiliate in Monterey County:

A disgraced former King City police officer, Bobby Carrillo, was feeling depressed while serving a 1-year jail sentence and wanted to go home, according to prosecutors

On Thursday, Monterey County Judge Julie Culver granted Carrillo’s request to be released from jail and serve the remainder of his sentence on home confinement.

The judge’s decision surprised and disappointed prosecutors.

“We disagree with the judge. We feel police officers should be held to a higher standard,” Deputy District Attorney Steve Somers said.

Carrillo had been behind bars since April 29, and he served fewer than three months in the Monterey County Jail.

Defense attorney Susan Chapman said Carrillo had lost 30 pounds, his mental and physical health was suffering, and he received death threats.

Being an inmate was especially hard on Carrillo because he was held in a small, isolated cell, where he had very limited contact with other people, Chapman said. Carrillo was held in isolation to protect him from other inmates.

“Mr. Carrillo had been treated harsher than other individuals convicted of the same type of (charges),” Chapman said.

District Attorney Dean Flippo said he had no doubts that Carrillo felt uncomfortable as an inmate because he was a former police officer.

However, “(Carrillo’s) status as a former peace officer cannot be adequate to eliminate jail as an appropriate punishment.

Although jail is a difficult place for former police officers, that should exist as an extra deterrent to violating the law,” Flippo argued in a letter to the judge.

“The defendant has provided no evidence of medical necessity to change his jail sentence. Every inmate can obviously state that he is uncomfortable in jail. Surely this should not be the standard to have a jail sentence changed,” Flippo said.

But Culver sided with Carrillo’s defense attorney.

Of course, anyone who has been to jail or knows someone that has been to jail knows that everyone is unhappy about being there and would rather be sitting at home. It’s also pretty common to lose a bunch of weight from the inedible food that is given to inmates. Some people might even argue that jail being unpleasant is kinda the point.

Even the one valid issue of danger from other inmates is just a matter of degrees. When you throw people into an overcrowded cage and treat them like animals they often respond as such. They certainly will be a little more threatening toward someone who played a part in the system that put them in that cage, but other inmates face the possibility of violence also.

It looks like these Bad Apples have found yet another way to make sure they receive their Policeman’s Discount whenever the Good Cops are forced (kicking and screaming) to go through the motions of acting like they want to hold them accountable.

“I’m homesick and the other inmates are being mean to me” will likely be taking its place next to “I feared for my life” and “he reached for his waistband/my gun” in their deck of magical get out of jail free cards they keep handy just in case they get caught doing something that creates a lot of publicity and makes it impossible for other cops to just ignore it.

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Kelly W. Patterson

Kelly is a lifelong resident of Las Vegas, who’s been very active in local grassroots activism, as well as on a national level during his extensive travels. He’s also the founder/main contributor of Nevada Cop Block, served as editor/contributor at CopBlock.org and designed the Official Cop Block Press Passes.
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